Pokéstop Spotlight: Centennial Park

Picture of Centennial Park by Jackie Novak

Location 

Centennial Park is located in Munster, Indiana, just south of 45th on Calumet Ave.
It's approximately 3 miles south of 80/94 and 3 miles north of Route 30. The is a great location. It is in close proximity to the restaurants and shopping area on Calumet Ave. and on Indianapolis Blvd. Centennial is right across the street from the veterans memorial.

About the Park

The entire park is around a lake with a playground and amphitheater. There is also a golf course on top of the hill. There are events held at this park every so often including concerts, wine/beer tastings and more. The park also allows catch and release fishing around the lake.

Pokémon around the park include but are not limited to Staryu, Magikarp, Dratini, Exeggcute, Spearow, Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Goldeen, Psyduck, Weedle, and Scyther. There is also rumor that someone caught a Gyarados in the lake.

Pokémon Go at the park

The park contains 9 Pokéstops and 1 gym. The Veterans Memorial across the street contains 4 Pokéstops. The golf course also has a special offer for all trainers on the hunt for Pokémon. For $10 you and one other person can rent a golf cart and drive around the golf course from 6:00PM - 8:00PM. This reminds me of the safari zones in the games.

It is a fairly popular place to go in the area. I was here this past Friday and at about 3PM there were approximately 60 people walking around the lake playing Pokémon Go. The people are friendly and more than willing to talk Pokémon (even if you are on team valor). Everyone I met at the park had their own tips and tricks to best make use of their time. I will give you a few ways to best use the park to the fullest advantage. Hopefully one of these will be right for you or give you an idea as to make your own Go plan.

The Centennial Circuit (Red)

Both outlets of the Lake have bridges over them. Only one is marked on the map

This path shown in red is the most common way to walk the park. It utilizes 8 of the parks 9 Pokéstops and gives the greatest distance to walk. This way you can stock up on Pokéballs and hatch your eggs in the shortest amount of time, This only skips the one stop by the entrance sign of the park. If you do not want to walk as far you can do the Simple Centennial Circuit shown in blue. This cuts out the 2 Pokéstops to the Northeast of the park. It is less distance but keeps you closer to the lake. You are more likely to catch the water type Pokémon when you are closer to the lake.

The Pokéstop Circuit (Yellow)

This path hits every Pokéstop in Centennial Park and the Veterans Memorial Park. This gives you the greatest amount of distance but is also the most time consuming. It require you to cross Calumet Ave. twice per circuit and you aren't near the lake for half the time. You will, however, go past 13 Pokéstops per lap. This gives potential for receiving 39 Pokéballs or more every lap. I have personally never done this Circuit do to my lack of time and battery life. I would recommend that if you are extremely low on Pokéballs that you run this at least once. It is no good finding Pokémon if you can't catch them.

The Short Gym Circuit (Purple)

This isn't as long as the Pokéstop Circuit but it hits more Pokéstops than the Centennial Circuit. This allow you to hit 9 Pokéstops and the gym without having to go around the entire lake. The only downside is having to cross Calumet Ave.
twice a lap. This is the shortest circuit distance wise. It may
 cost some time because of the traffic lights.

Playground Hot Spot (Pink Stop)

The playground is a perfect place to go if you have little ones to look after. While they play on the Playground you can keep one eye on them and the other one on the lookout for Pokémon. If you have a Lure Module available you can use it at the playground. The Pokémon will come to you. There are benches around the playground to sit and a shelter nearby to take a break out of the sun.

Amphitheater Hot Spot (Red Stop)

The Amphitheater is marked by the red outline. This is a favorite spot to sit next to the lake and farm water types such as Magikarp, Goldeen, Dratini, and others. If you don't want to walk or just need a 30 min break you can sit by the water and activate a Lure Module. The Pokémon will come to you and you get a little rest.

Togetherness Sculpture Hot Spot (Green Stop)

This spot marked by the greed outline is another spot that is said to be good for sitting around and catching Pokémon. This has been said to be the place to be to find lots of Magikarp. I am going to try this the next time I am at the park. Since it takes 101 Magikarp to evolve a Gyarados sitting here for a 30 min Lure Module wouldn't hurt. The view from this stop isn't bad either.


I hope that this has given you guys a new spot to hang out and I hope to see you here sometime. Until then go outside, play safe, and catch 'em all.

Frozen Pokéball Glitch

Every so often when I am trying to catch a Pokémon the second the ball hits the ground the game freezes. The first question that pops into my head is, "Did I catch the Pokémon or did it get away?" I know this happens to others as well so I'm going to tell you what the best course of action is when you come across this glitch.

So your Pokéball is frozen. Now What?

Step 1

Wait about 20-30 seconds to see if the game will respond. If it dose good for you. If not go to step 2.

Step 2

Exit the game and reopen it.

Step 3

Tap on your trainer picture to come to this screen.

Step 4

Click the Journal button on your trainer screen. In your Journal the most recent entry should be about the Pokémon you were trying to capture. It will say either "------- ran away" or "------- was caught"

Step 5

Continue playing Pokémon Go until your battery dies.

I hope this helps all of you trainers in need. Now go outside, have some fun, and catch 'em all.

How to enjoy some Freemium.

Some people may not know how to take full advantage of the shop when it comes to Pokémon Go. I'm going to tell you how to enjoy some free coins which can add up to free Pokéballs, Lure Modules, and more.

The Shop

The Shop is a place where people can buy coins for real money and then use those coins to buy more Pokéballs, Incense, Lucky Eggs, Lure Modules,  Egg Incubators, Bag item storage upgrades, and Pokémon storage upgrades. There are some of us out there who don't have the money to spend on video games.

From this screenshot you can see that I have 80 coins. I didn't pay for them however. The way I got them was just by playing the game.

How to get Free Coins

Get a Pokémon in a gym

 

If you have a powerful enough Pokémon you can battle in a gym. If you take over a gym you can place a Pokémon in the gym. You can also put a Pokémon in a gym even if it is already controlled by your team. You just need to level up your gym enough. The button to do this will appear in the lower left of the screen and look like this in the picture below.

                                                                Go to the Shop

Now you have a Pokémon in a gym. Now you need to go to the Shop. In the upper right hand corner of the screen you will see a small shield which says collect right below it. The number inside the shield is the number of gyms you occupy. The more gyms you are in when you collect the larger the reward will be. From what I can tell you get 10 coins and 500 stardust per gym. Be careful about when you collect the reward because you can only collect once every 21 hours. In the area I live there are 3 gyms. So in the morning I go out can take all 3 as quickly as possible. Once I've taken the third I collect my reward. Since I have 3 gyms I get 30 coins and 1500 stardust.


I hope you have enjoyed this Pokémon Go tip. Thanks for reading. Now go outside, play safe, and catch 'em all.

Respect the Fallen and Leave the Gyms White

Arlington National Cemetery is the most well know cemetery in the entire country. Within its boundaries lie over 400,000 soldiers who died in the service of their country. Presidents John F, Kennedy and William Howard Taft also are at rest in Arlington.

Since Pokémon Go was released people have been playing it wherever they go. Including Arlington, the National Holocaust Museum, Civil War Battlefields, the 9/11 memorial, and others. Someone posted a picture of one of the Pokéstops. She was surprised to what the Pokéstop was (just not surprised enough not to use it). There is a time and a place for everything and people in our world today don't understand the ideas of reverence and respect as well as they ought to.











Arlington National Cemetery sent out this following tweet to try and help this problem. The effects are unknown but I hope that the problem stops. As a lover of American History and a fellow Pokémon Go supporter I ask you this. If you see a Pokéstop in a cemetery or a gym in a place deemed sacred don't go there to play Pokémon Go. Remember why they are there and what price was paid. People died so you could play Pokémon Go. As of right now the cemeteries and other sites are working on taking themselves off of the Pokémon Go app. Until they do I say let us leave the Gyms white and the Pokéstops blue. These people have done too much to be disrespected by something like this. Who is with me?

Pokémon Go World Map

Since there seems to be a lack of a map provided by Niantic to see where Gyms and Pokéstops are located reddit users /u/jenerikku and /r/PokemonGoGTA took it upon themselves to start up a crowd-sourced map where people can add the location of local gyms and Pokéstops. That is not all. There is also a way to pin the area of where a specific Pokémon can be found.

I strongly encourage everyone to help build this map. This will give you and your friends a way to find great new places to hang out and hunt for that one Pokémon you can't find. It's free and simple to use. You just click the location you want to add a point and select what can be found there.

Warning: Since people are not perfect there is a chance that someone posts a fake gym or Pokéstop. These can be reported to the website and will be taken down. Please be careful of this. There are criminals who have been using Lure Mods and other things to rob people of their phones and wallets/purses. If you don't know the area bring people with you for your own safety.

Remember to play smart, play safe, and catch 'em all.

Truth or LIES!

There are various tricks and hacks for Pokémon Go that have sprung up recently. I'm here to tell you what is fact and what is fiction.

Statement #1

If you tap on Pokéballs that missed the target you can retrieve them.

This makes sense right? When you throw a ball and it misses the target it doesn't disappear right away. There must be some logical reasoning to this. Maybe you have a slim chance to tap it to get it back? It seems like a nice thing that Niantic would do right? Well you would be wrong. This, although a nice idea, is indeed a LIE! The only place you can get Pokéballs is from a Pokéstop or the store with coins. I was kind of disappointed at this truth but it just means I have to keep up on my Pokéball stock.

Statement #2

If you take your phone and attach it to a ceiling fan it will hatch your eggs quicker.

There are always the few people who are just lazy enough to try this. The idea is since your phone is moving then you will travel a long distance. It is true that your phone would have traveled a longer distance but it wouldn't have moved your character. This also probably wouldn't fool a pedometer either. Pokémon Go is a virtual overlay of google maps. It uses your smartphone's GPS to track your location. If you don't leave the same 4sqft space your character won't move. So this is clearly a LIE!

Additionally someone came up with the idea to use some Duck Tape to put their phone in between the spokes of their bike to rack up the distance as well. Assuming that you ride the bike around you will get distance on your eggs but no more than if you just had the phone in your hand. It also eliminates your ability to catch new Pokémon and hit up Pokéstops.


I hope that you all find this helpful. I'm off to more adventures in the world of Pokémon.
Gotta Catch 'Em All

How to start with a Pikachu

Pikachu is the most beloved Pokémon hands down. Everyone wants to get their hands on a Pikachu just to say they have one even though they are not close to being the most powerful. There is a way to get around the entire hunting for a Pikachu. I wish I knew this trick before I started but I didn't and had to wait 4 days til one hatched from a egg. 

How to get a Pikachu as your starter.

When you first start the game you have the choice of one of the original starters to pick from. You could just pick one of them and begin your quest to be the Pokémon master but what is the fun in that when you don't have a Pikachu? In order to get a Pikachu as your starter you need to make the 3 starter Pokémon respawn 3 times. After that the next time the Pokémon spawn you should have a chance to catch a Pikachu. 

Why wouldn't you get Pikachu as a starter?

Since this your starter Pokémon it won't be very powerful. You can also only power it up so much with the candies you have. You also only get more candies from hatching the pokémon or catching it. Since Pikachu is among the rarer of the Pokémon the odds are you will have to wait a while to evolve one into a Raichu. In that time you would also probably come across more powerful Pikachu's than your starter. It is better to evolve your higher CP Pokémon so your evolved Pokémon are all the more powerful than what you started with.

My Pikachu

My Pikachu hatched from a 5km egg. I was about level 8 when this happened. I was lucky enough to get a Pikachu with a good base CP. Also, since it hatched from an egg I get more candies than I would if I just caught it from the wild. Only problem with that strategy is the eggs are just a roll of the dice. I have never seen a wild Pikachu so I'm no closer to getting my Raichu. 

So what do I do now?

The Choice is up to you. Maybe in your specific region there are more wild Pikachu's running around. It all depends. Since this trick has been around since the day the game started Pikachu starters are not uncommon so the bragging rights are not really there. If you hatch a pikachu like I did you will  probably get a higher level Pikachu. That is still up to the dice.

I hope I've given you something to think about and maybe helped you with your decision. Either way it is a choice you make. Have a great day and go catch 'em all.